David's Big Adventure in China

I’ve been back in China now for about 4 weeks and we’re in week 3 of the spring semester. Upon my return to China, I retrieved my checked bag in Beijing and noticed that the lock was missing. I opened the bag and didn’t find anything missing. I’m assuming that the customs folks in China cut the lock to have a look inside to make sure I was bringing in any inappropriate items. I had several books inside so they probably made sure they were not on the banned list. The lock was a TSA (Transportation Security Administration – USA) approved lock that the Customs folks have a master key to but I guess the Chinese Customs folks don’t have a master key.

Speaking of locks, I got locked out of my apartment one day a couple weeks ago. I was out on the porch hanging laundry when a strong wind came and blew the door closed. My keys and phone were locked inside. As luck would have it, I was only wearing my boxers and a t-shirt as it was quite warm that day. So I had to go outside to go to some other teachers’ apartments hoping to find someone home that could call the office for me. Fortunately it was before 5:00 in the afternoon and we found the right guy and he understood my Chinese and came with a key within 15 minutes.

Of course I’m keeping up on the economic news from the U.S. and I don’t need to tell you how bad it is. It’s bad here too but not as bad as in the states. The government here is saying they think a recovery has already begun here but nobody believes that. Car sales here had been running over 20% higher than the previous year but in recent months have only been around 8% higher than the previous year. Total car sales here in December were more that total car sales in the USA. I know tons of people have lost their jobs in China but judging by the crowds at Wal-mart here on Sunday, things are not so bad. While there, I checked the price on a toaster as it would be nice to have one. They only had one model and price was equivalent to $55 U.S. I was shocked that it was so expensive. They had toaster ovens that you could buy for just a little bit more money.

A Chinese friend of mine that has been living in the states for about 30 years thought that some of my blog writings have been too negative about the Chinese. I will provide some balance by telling you about a conversation I had recently. I went to some friends’ home for dinner (a Swiss guy and his Chinese wife) and joining us there was another family. Both husband and wife are pretty high up in the police department. The husband was telling us about a trip he made to the U.S. and about his visit to a police force in New York. It was an educational trip to learn about police methods. He was disappointed that the people he met with in New York did not invite he and his colleagues to dinner and he felt they were not very hospitable. Perhaps he would have been treated differently someplace other than New York but I agreed with him that Chinese are more friendly and hospitable to visitors than Americans. Most of the people I have met here are very kind and generous and go out of their way to be friendly and hospitable.

Speaking of the police, I recently was politely asked to accompany some policemen to the local visa office without knowing why at the time. A fellow teacher (an American married to a Chinese lady) had asked me to join him for an English corner at his housing complex near campus for an hour one Saturday. An English corner normally is where people get together to informally practice their English. I agreed to go there as a couple times I and other teachers have been invited to that complex for parties. When I got there for the English corner it was actually an English lesson for the residents rather than a typical English corner. My colleagues wife had a book that she and I used to conduct a simple lesson for about 30 some residents of the complex. My colleague was in a different room giving a more advanced lesson. After we finished the lessons there were some police officers waiting for us and asked my colleague and I to go with them to their office. After we arrived there, they separated us and asked us questions about the lesson and if we were paid for it (we were not paid) and did we have an agreement with the complex to teach every week. They called the Dean from our school to come there too. It wasn’t until after they finished the questions and let us go that I discovered why we were there. The builder had used my colleague’s picture in a full page newspaper ad trying to sell apartments there, saying that among the amenities they offered free English lessons to the residents. They have to have a license to operate an English school and also, it is not allowed for us foreigners to have another job beside the one that was used for obtaining our visa. I’m still not sure why this was such a big deal that 4 policemen were working on their day off but I’m guessing that another builder with connections complained. I haven’t heard any more about it. If they found that we were working outside of our visa they technically could have revoked our visas. Obviously, I won’t be going there for any English corners or lessons in the future!